MUHAMMAD KHALID MASUD
[Academic director, ISIM (International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World), Leiden, The Netherland]
Published in Sufi Illuminations, vol. 3, no. 1. Spring 2002, pp. 1-13. An
improved version was later published in English and Spanish in Alfonso
Carmona (Edición y traducción), El Sufismo y las normas del Islam,
Trabajos del IV Congreso Internacional de Estudios Jurídicos Islámicos:
Derecho y Sufismo (Murcia: Editora Regional de Murcia, Colección Ibn
‘ Arabi, 2006), 47-67 (Spanish), 271-290(English).
Pilgrimage (Hajj) in Islam is one of the five pillars of faith. The Qur'an calls it a mansik (rite) and explains that every human community has rites, which they perform.
Unto each nation have we given sacred rites, which they are to perform; so let them not dispute with thee of the matter, but summon them unto thy Lord. Lo! Thou indeed follow right guidance. And if they wrangle with thee, say Allah is best aware of what ye do.1
What is mansik? Does it eonvey the same sense as the term “rite” or “ritual”? In Islamie literature, especially Fiqh, the four pillars of faith, namely Salat, Sawm, Zakat, and Hajj are also categorized as ‘Ibada. Are the terms mansik and ‘ibada synonymous? Do they have the same meaning as “rite” or “ritual”? We do not intend to go into a philological analysis of these terms. It is sufficient to assume that they have common semantic fields. The Arabic terms mansik and ‘ibada share the meaning of submission, asceticism, and sacrifice, in order to come closer to God. On another level, manasik (plural of mansik) signifies the methods of performing this obligation. In this sense mansik comes closer to the term “rites”. Generally, when we speak of these above-mentioned four pillars of Islam we call them ‘ibada. Although the sense of sacrifice, in terms of animal offering, forms part of Hajj only, but sacrifice in a general sense is included in Salat, Sawm and Zakat also.
Rites or rituals are part of human social life, not always religious. Recent anthropological studies have tried to understand these rituals as cultural symbols. They found most rituals associated with seasons or critical phases in human life. They symbolize death and new life. They are called rites of passage and relate to birth, adulthood, marriage, and death, for example. According to anthropologists, a society incorporates an individual into the community through these rites. They are performed as an obligation, often without their rational understanding. The religious rites also have similar symbolic role, but they are also often performed without asking why.
In Islamic thought, the jurists took this position. They held that ‘ibada is an obligation, and one need not seek for explanation. Their main argument was that ‘ibada is beyond human understanding. It was known only through Divine revelation. They adhered to how it was given in the text of the Qur’an and Hadith. They paid more attention to the details of performance, than to understanding their social or religious meanings. A peculiar sense of ritual, namely performing these religious obligations merely as a duty, without trying to understand their purpose, arose from this attitude.
In popular understanding, ‘ibada was understood as a reciprocal relationship with God. It was performed for the pleasure of God. Or, to be more specific, to avert the displeasure of God. It was to seek favors from God, sometimes even believing that God was obliged to respond reciprocally.
The Sufis disagreed with this attitude of performing religious obligation without understanding it or for reward alone. Firstly, they explained the spiritual significance of these ‘ibadat. Secondly, they severely criticized the literal treatment of revealed texts on rituals. Among these ‘ibadat Hajj has attracted more attention for understanding rituals. We also find more anthropologist studies on Hajj than on other Islamic rituals. No doubt, other rituals associated with rites of passage have also been extensively studied, but religious rituals like Salat have remained largely unexplored by anthropologists until recently. Hajj offers a very rich example of religious symbols and includes the activities of journey, sacrifice and remembrance. In this essay, we are not reviewing anthropological studies of Hajj. We are limiting to the efforts of understanding this ritual within Islamic tradition. The essay overviews Sufi efforts toward understanding Hajj as a ritual.
Shah Waliullah (d.1763), a scholar saint of Delhi elaborates that the institution of pilgrimage is common to all religious communities:
The principle of pilgrimage exists in every religious community. Every religion must fix a place where one may receive God's blessings by experiencing the manifestation of God’s signs, offering sacrifice and performing certain rituals in the manner of one's ancestors. There is no place more worthy of pilgrimage than the House of God in Mecca because it has manifest signs of God. The Prophet Abraham built it with his own hands. 2
Explaining the spiritual dimension of pilgrimage to Mecca, Shah Waliullah regards it as a means of communion with God:
The pilgrimage is in fact the name of the gathering of a large number of pious spirits at a certain point of time. They get together to remember God's blessings upon the Prophets, the Truthful, the Martyrs and the Pious ones. Secondly it is the name of a place where the clear signs are to be witnessed. In every age, groups of religious leaders have been coming to visit the place to witness these signs and glorify the Divine rites...
Thus when the spiritual powers of the pious people of the past as well as of the present come to assemble in one place in such a manner, Divine mercy and forgiveness cannot fail to descend there. 3
Pilgrimage has acquired a special meaning for Muslim mystics. Analyzing the historical development of Muslim mysticism Annemarie Schimmel, a German scholar of Sufism observes that the pilgrimage continued to be a central point in the Sufi life. Mecca was not only a place where the Sufis would meet and exchange ideas but it was a place where many of them were blessed with mystic revelations and illuminations.4 The peculiar inner religious experience of Hajj had a deep influence on Muslim mysticism. It created a special genre of Sufi literature. Hakim Tirmadhi' s (d. 898) Asrar al-Hajj (Secrets of Pilgrimage) 5, Ibn ‘Arabi's (d. 1260) Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (Meccan Openings) 6 and Shah Waliullah's (d. 1763) Fuyud al-HHaramayn, (Inundations of the Two Sacred Places) 7 are outstanding examples of this genre.
Shah Waliullah Dihlawi explains his religious experience of pilgrimage in very simple terms.
Sometimes a human yearns anxiously to see the Lord. Some sort of place or thing is therefore required where this desire may be fulfilled. Pilgrimage is the only form, which serves this purpose.8
Other Sufis describe this experience in a highly mystical and allegorically dense language. In fact the symbolism of pilgrimage has greatly enriched Islamic literature with its numerous subtle metaphors and moving imagery.
In order to appreciate the Sufi view of Hajj, it must be remembered that this view grew in close association with the formal legal doctrines about Hajj, mostly in contrastive parallelism. It is, therefore, necessary first to briefly recall the rites and requirements for Hajj.
According to Islamic jurisprudence, the first requirements are Istita'at (capacity), namely, the intending pilgrim must be financially and physically capable to undertake this journey and that the journey ought to be safe and secure. When the pilgrim arrives at Miqat, an appointed place around Mecca, s/he should wash his body and wear Ihram, two white unsown pieces of cloth in which male pilgrim wraps him. He or she arrives in Mecca, reciting Talbiya, a verbal formula affirming that s/he responded the Divine call to Hajj. The pilgrim performs Tawaf (circumambulations around Ka'ba), and Sa‘y (walking briskly between the two hills of Safa and Marwa). Ka'ba, a cube shape building is the house of God built by Prophet Abraham. On the 8th of Zul Hijja, s/he travels to Mina, a plaee in the hills, east of Meeea. Qn the ninth of Zul Hijja, the pilgrim travels to ‘Arafat, an open space about 21 km. east of Mecca, and stays there praying until night fall. At night s/he returns to Muzdalifa, another open space, roughly halfway to Mina. Early morning, s/he travels back to Mina, where s/he performs the rite of Ramy Jimar (throwing stones at appointed three places where Satan had tried to tempt Abraham). Then s/he offers animal sacrifice, still in Mina, to complete the rites of Hajj. The pilgrim then goes back again to Ka‘ba to perform the last circumambulation around it.
Islamic jurisprudence has developed the structure of this ritual in greater details. It is against this context of the juristic formalism that Sufis developed their own understanding of Hajj. In the following pages, we shall first offer a brief analysis of how early Sufis looked at Hajj as a religious obligation, then we shall discuss some examples of the contrastive parallelism that the Sufis developed in the above context and lastly we shall refer to the allegorical treatment of Hajj that the Sufi thought developed in finer details.
In the early period, i.e. before al-Qushayri (d. 1073), most Sufis did not differ much from Muslim theologians and jurists. They considered the prominence of pilgrimage in the same terms of formal religio-legal obligation as others did. One finds among them, nevertheless, three groups with varying attitudes to this religious obligation. One group recognized that Hajj was a religious duty like other duties. Performance of pilgrimage was binding onee in one’s life. This group apparently did not eoneern itself with the inner meanings and mysteries of this ritual. They performed it as a requirement, once in a lifetime.
Abu'l Nasr al-Sarraj (d. 987) explains that after performing pilgrimage Sufis would generally dedicate them to perfecting Sufi states and moments. They would not go for the pilgrimage again. Thus Sahl b. Abdullah (d. 896), Bayazid Basmati (d. 875), and Junayd of Baghdad (d. 908) performed the pilgrimage only once"9. The Sufi element in their performance of pilgrimage consisted in opting for hardship in journey. They would travel even without proper provisions,10 disregarding the juristic condition of capacity (Istita ’at). They called their option ‘azimat (regular or resolute mode of action), while they called the juristic condition rukhsat (concessional mode of action). They called juristic method of performing Hajj “pilgrimage of Islam", to distinguish it from Sufi perception of pilgrimage.
The second group of Sufis in the early period stressed the spiritual significance of the pilgrimage. For these Sufis the pilgrimage was a means to achieve Sufi states. Pilgrimage was a journey towards God. When they set out on this journey they would sever all other connections in this world. They would not only opt for hardships in this journey, but would repeat it again and again. Some of them would even settle in Mecca to keep repeating the pilgrimage. Hasan Qazzaz al-Dinawari performed Hajj twelve times. He would go bare footed. When Abu Turab al-Nakhshabi (d. 859) went on Hajj, s/he would take food only two or three times throughout the journey.11
A third group of Sufis in this period maintained that the pilgrimage itself was not the purpose, the real purpose was to have communion with God. Formalities of the pilgrimage by themselves were not sufficient to achieve communion, rather, indulgence in them led one away from God. To get closer to God one must give up the formalities of the obligation. The jurists and the orthodox Sufis strongly condemned this attitude. This view of Hajj appeared quite early in the Sufi history with full vigor. The view had a momentary setback when the Sufis holding such views were branded as heretics and disbelievers and were punished severely. Yet, the view did not disappear completely. It has survived in poetry, especially in folk literature and Sufi poetry all over the Muslim world.
Ibn Abdak al-Sufi (d. cir. 825) and Abdullah b. Yazid are extreme example of this group. They denied the obligation of the pilgrimage.12 Malamatiyya Sufis radicalized further the practice of this view. Abu Abdullah al-Maghribi (d.892), a Malamati Sufi, would arrive in Mecca for the pilgrimage as if s/he were visiting a market, fully clad in regular clothes with a white sheet on his shoulders. Only after completing the rituals of pilgrimage s/he would wear the ritual pilgrim garments (Ihram). He would return home in these clothes and would stay in the state of Ihram until his return to Mecca next year for the pilgrimage.13
It seems that this attitude was very popular in Mansur Hallaj’s (d. 921) followers, known as Hallajian School. According to Hallaj:
Some people are not capable of seeking God directly. They go to Him through such material means as Ka'ba, the House of God. They seek such means because they do not believe in a direct contact with God. Although the journey towards God must begin with a journey toward Ka'ba, but one cannot reach God unless one leaves Ka‘ba behind him. As long as you remain attached to Ka'ba you stay away from God. But if you really go farther from Ka'ba then you might have communion with the Creator of Ka'ba.14
Abu Ali Umar lbn Hasan Ibn Dahya (d. 1236) claims that it was due to such radical views about Hajj that cost Hallaj his life. According to him, Hallaj's opponents presented some of his letters to the chief Qadi. In one of these letters, addressed to Shakir b. Ahmad, Hallaj wrote, "Demolish the Ka'ba. In its place, rebuild another one on the foundation of wisdom (Hikma) in order that this Kaba prostrates before God with those who prostrate and bends before Him”.15
In another letter s/he wrote:
If you intend to perform the pilgrimage, proceed to a clean corner of your house. Stop at the door as one stops at the gates of the Ka'ba. Enter this corner clad in ritual pilgrim garments. When you go from this corner to any other part of your house walk briskly from that place to the intended corner as if you were walking between Safa and Marwa.16
When the chief Qadi was reading this letter s/he committed a few mistakes in reading. Hallaj started correcting him. The Qadi remarked that by pointing out errors Hallaj had admitted writing that letter because s/he even remembered its contents. Hallaj said, "Yes this is my letter. This is my knowledge". The judge said, "O enemy of God! You are telling lies. O disbeliever! O sinner! O shedding of whose blood is lawful and I do not say this for a Muslim". Saying this judge announced death sentence against Hallaj.17
Louis Massignon considers these views characteristic of the Hallajian School of mysticism. He argues that Hallaj's views on Hajj were in fact the culmination of a movement of thought that began with similar views of early Sufis like Ibn al-Munkadir, Abu Hazim al-Madani, Bishr al-Hafi (d. 892), Dhu'l Nun al-Misri (d. 859) and Ibn 'Ata (d.1309).18
Sufis developed a contrastive parallelism between the literalist and esoteric view of the rite of Hajj. They seek inner meanings of the rite. This parallelism is best illustrated by Shaykh Junayd’s dialogue with his diseiple on the latter’s return from Hajj. Shaykh Junayd asked his diseiple several questions. “When you donned Ihram at Miqat, did you give up human attributes the same way as you took off your elothes?” “When you departed for Hajj did you also depart from your sins?” Shaykh Hujwiri gives a long list of such questions. The disciple could not answer any question in affirmative. Shaykh Junayd advised him to go back to perform the Hajj again with these questions in mind.19
Analyzing this dialogue we may develop the following diagram showing parallels in the juristic and the Sufi views of Hajj (See Table 1)
One notices that in this parallelism, Sufis sometimes allude to alternate or metaphorical meanings of the words that are proper names e.g. Safa, which literally means cleanliness. But they also take advantage of the orthography of words that could be read differently with different meaning. For example, Marwa could be read asMuru ’a, which would mean manliness and control over desires.
Shaykh Hujwiri develops similar parallelism between two types of Hajj : Pilgrimage to the physical abode of Abraham, and pilgrimage to the spiritual abode of Abraham. Abraham's physical abode is Mecca and his spiritual abode is Khillat (friendship) with God. Latter is also an allusion to Abraham's epithet: friend of God. Those who intend pilgrimage to Abraham's physical abode wear ihram abandoning worldly lust and desires. They go to ‘Arafat and Muzdalifa, and offer sacrifice. They attain the status of a Hajji.
TABLE 1
Qushayri develops parallels at several other levels. Literally, s/he explains, Hajj means a journey to some one that you glorify. Hajj is, therefore, classified into various typologies according to the intentions of the pilgrim. Qushayri illustrates one typology of parallelism saying that there is one who travels accompanied with his self to visit the House. He takes off his ihram after performing the rites of Hajj. The other type of pilgrim travels accompanied with his heart to witness the Owner of the house. The latter type of pilgrims keeps on wearing ihram until s/he witnesses God. His ihram consists of truly to avoid seeing others than God.20
Qushayri in his Lata’if al-Isharat elaborates the difference in various types of Hajj with a contrastive parallelism between common people and special persons. Common people go to the street of the beloved but the special people intend for the face of the beloved. The common go to visit Friend’s house the speeial go to visit the Friend Himself. The common people go with their souls and visit the doors and walls of the house. The special people go with their spirits and attain the vision of their friend. They are able to listen to Him. Those who go with their souls suffer hardship and pain before they arrive at Ka'ba. Those who go with their spirits travel in comfort and Ka'ba itself comes to them.21
Rashid al-Din al-Maybudi (d. 1209), in Kashf al-Asrar wa Uddat al-Abrar, compares the journey for pilgrimage with a parallelism based on the simile of death, the journey to the hereafter. The fear of death, its varying states, the hurry and scurry seen at the time of one's departure for the hereafter also occur at one’s departure for Hajj. Hence the wise people prepare for the Hajj journey by constantly remembering the hereafter. Each act and state in their Hajj journey reminds them the stations on their road destined to death. They keep preparing for the journey, which is longer and more difficult than Hajj. He advises the pilgrim first of all to bid farewell to his/her family and friends recalling as if it were the last moments of death when the relatives and friends gather around a dying person to bid him farewell. When the pilgrim mounts on the animal s/he should remember that one’s body is the only mount during one’s journey towards hereafter. When the pilgrim says Talbiya s/he should remember that one is responding to the Divine call in eternity which will resound in one’s ears on the Day of Judgment, but one never knows whether it will bear good tidings or misfortune".22
Like other Sufis, Ruzbahan Baqli Shirazi (d. 1210) also regards spiritual pilgrimage higher than all other forms. He develops a triple parallelism to distinguish three objectives of Hajj. First, there are pilgrims who want to earn reward by sacrificing wealth and comforts. Second type of pilgrims goes to Hajj only to obey to the Divine command; they cleanse their hearts from all worldly connections to seek pleasure of God. Thirdly, there are pilgrims who go on Hajj with their eagerly anticipating should. They intend to witness the house of God in order to seek the truth of his place where knowledge, affinity, purity, communion, intimacy, epiphany and nearness manifest at themselves. The literalists avoid prohibitions and take off their ihram after the performance of the rites. The esoteric Sufis put on ihram of prohibitions avoiding reliance on the created and the whole of the universe. They do not take off their ihram as long as they live and until they attain the vision of the essence of God and the revelation of Divine attributes23.
Najmuddin Kubra (d.1256), the founder of Kubrawiyya Sufi order, regards Ka‘ba, Hajj and its rites as indications toward terms, conditions and etiquettes for the j ourney towards God.24
Kubra constructs an interesting parallel between two archetypes of Hajj: Abraham's Hajj and Prophet Muhammad’s Hajj (Peace be upon him); the former is a station and destination in this journey, while the latter is a spiritual state. He elaborates Abraham’s Hajj as follows.
In its ordinary form and spirit Hajj is the name of Abraham's station, but what is a station for Abraham is a state for Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the same meaning. State is of course, more perfect than a station, because the stations are places of rest in a journey. On the other hand, states are blessings from God in the form of spiritual experience, which are constantly in the process of transformation. One cannot travel from one station to the other without Divine blessings and the state obtains after reaching a station. Abraham belonged to the people of station that is why he said, "I am going towards God. He will soon guide me” 25
On the other hand, Kubra fuses the event of Mi ‘raj (Prophet Muhammad’s ascension to heavens) with his Hajj as two journeys. He explains Prophet Muhammad’s Hajj in the following terms.
The Hajj Mustafawi belongs to the state of Divine Blessing. That is why God said; "Pure is the Entity who took His servant one night...”26 Abraham could not go beyond the seventh heaven because he was going on Hajj on his own. That is why he was detained. "If you are detained you should sacrifice what is available"27 Since Abraham was detained he was required to sacrifice Isma'il.
On the other hand when Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was taken on this journey, he was not detained because God Himself was taking him. Rather he was told, " Complete the Hajj and Umra for the sake of God."28. He completed his Hajj in such a manner that he came closer and closer until he was only at a distance of two bows or rather less29. He completed his Umra, in a manner that the moons of the destined objectives appeared before him with full revelation of Majesty. The suns of intimacy shone on the clouds of love. What ought to happen happened between the two lovers. He revealed to His servant what He liked. Then call came from the tents of Glory to complete the Hajj. Later when the Prophet was staying at Arafat during his last pilgrimage, he was asked to perform the Greater Hajj. That was his last Hajj .30
Allegorical Interpretations
We have seen that Sufis view Hajj as allegory for a journey towards God. To some it is analogues with death, which is again man's journey towards God. The parallelism that we mentioned above illustrates their view. The contrast is essentially with the theological or juristic view that according to Sufis is literalist perception of Hajj. As we have already mentioned, Islamic Law prescribes certain qualification and rites for Hajj. The Sufis add esoteric meaning to them. We shall review some important terms.
Ka'ba
Ka’ba, a house of God built by Abraham is the foeal point in Hajj. For Sufis it is a locus of Divine manifestation, yet in their allegorical interpretation of it as a symbol of direction, a pointer, and a milestone on the path of God. The semiotic significance explained by Sufis varies depending on their individual experiences.
Narrating his Hajj experience, Bayazid Bastami (d.875) says, "First time during my Hajj I only saw a simple house. Second time I saw both the house and its owner, but the third time I saw only the owner and no house was in sight"31 Sheikh Hujwiri explains that” In short Haram is the place where one witnesses the Greatness of God. When realities are revealed to a person the whole world becomes Haram for him. When they are not even Haram remains the darkest place on earth. As a matter of fact the darkest place in the world is the house of the beloved when He is not in it.32
The famous Sufi Muhammad bin Fazl (d. 931) wonders that the people wander searching His house all over the world. Why do they not witness Him in their own hearts? When you are searching for His House, it is possible that you may not find him there. But you must witness Him during your experience. It is obligatory to visit a stone at which you can look only once a year, it is better to visit your heart, which you experience 360 times during a day. 33
ThemystieRabi‘aBasriyya used to say. “I do not seek Ka‘ba but its owner. I have no use of Kaba3
Qushayri explains that Ka‘ba is a house made from stone but it is eonneeted with eternity. When one looks at it through the eye of the creature s/he will stand separated, whoever looks at it through eye of association s/he will receive the communion.35 House of God is stone and man is a fistful of dust. Both are related to each other.36
Qushayri explains Hajj in an allegory of visiting a friend's house. The House itself is not the objective; it is the friend one seeks. Similarly it is not the physical body whose arrival at friend's house is an event, it is the spirit and yearning for communion that is significant. If not, it is clay in the body (human body) meeting stone (House of God). He therefore, says, "Do not place this House in your heart that was made for you, but rather make your inner heart (Sirr) empty to receive the Friend who chose you first".37
TAWAF
Tawaf, or circumambulation around Ka‘ba symbolizes love and passion. According to Sufi semiotic it is a movement that symbolizes belonging to the point of circumambulation and finally settling at that point.
Baqli Shirazi explains that Ka’ba is the point of direetion for everyone, common as well as special people. . It directs those who perform Tawaf around it to various other paths of God. It is through Ka’ba that God has prevented His beauty to be witnessed by others. He constructed this house before Adam was created so that it became a place of Test and Trial. It keeps Adam and his progeny stay away from the owner of this house. A person who intends for God by separating his inner self from the sense of direction God himself becomes a point of direction for him and h e becomes a point of direction for him and s/he becomes a point of direction for others, similarly as Adam became the point of direction for the angels.38
Qushayri explains that the knowledge about Tawaf that the pilgrims perform around the house of God was revealed to us by Shari ’a but only the people of truth know the knowledge of the Tawaf of meanings. The meaning circumambulate around the hearts of Gnostic (‘Arifiri), but they seek recluse (I'tikaf) in the hearts of the monists (muwahhidin). The former are called the people whose mystic states are ever changing, and the latter are the people of established states.39
SAFA and MARWA
Safa and Marwa are two hills near which Abraham left his wife Hajira with their son Isma‘il, in eomplianee with Divine Command. The plaee was a desert without water or vegetation. Young Isma‘il eried for water and the worried mother ran between these two hills in seareh for water. Water finally appeared as a miraele at a plaee where Isma’il was lying and near whieh Abraham and Isma‘il later built the House of God. Running between these hills is one of the rites of Hajj. The Sufis allegorize this story and provide allegorical meanings to Safa and Marwa. We have referred above to Shaykh Junayd who allegorized Safa and Marwa using the literal meanings of the names of these hills.
Baqli Shirazi's allegorism develops this similitude in further details. Safa and Marwa symbolize the tents and palaces of the realm of Malakut and Jabrut, because in fact Safa and Marwa are veils of Mecca, Mecca is a veil of Haram, land Haram is a veil of the house of God. It is in these meanings that house of God is the tent for the Lord on the land of his private apartments. On the mount of Safa the Sufi climbs with the support of the light of knowledge to seek purity of spirit and the vision of God. The mount of Marwa is a Staircase for the ascetics who climb on it with the tears of repentance in their eyes aiming for the
Purification of their souls. Safa is the spirit and Marwa is the heart. That is why those who climb the mount of Safa but do not clean their inner self for God they do not gain anything from the signs of Hajj. Similarly whoever climbs Marwa with out witnessing the truth of unseen s/he does not gain anything from the signs of truth.40
CONCLUSION
Comparing the Sufi understanding of Hajj with that of jurists, we find the following points of contrasts.
The jurists do not go beyond the obvious (zahir) meanings of the text, while the Sufis explore the inner (batin) significance of the words. The jurists derive rules from the literal implications of these words. The Sufis seek analogies with parallel semantic fields of these words. The Sufis create a world of imagination to relate their religious experience of these rituals. The jurists find it more rational and more secure to stay close to the literal meanings of the words, which can be tested and measured by linguistic usage. They find it dangerous to swim in the fluid world of inner experience without any handles to hold on. The Sufis dare to travel into the imaginal world of meaning because only then they can begin to experience the spiritual reality. The Sufi defines the aim of a ritual to seek closeness to God, while the jurists are content with the compliance of the obligation.
In their understanding of rituals, the jurists limit themselves to human body and its actions. They define the rites in terms of body movements. The Sufis, on the other hand focus on spirit and intention. The jurists stress formal compliance. The Sufis stress sincerity (ikhlas) in the performance.
The jurists maintain a duality, namely the distance between God and man, and the ritual for them is meant to symbolize this duality. Man performs a ritual to demonstrate this distance. The Sufis, on the other hand aim at the unity. The ritual is a means to seek closeness to God and to remove the duality.
The jurists perceive the ritual of Hajj as a formality consisting of several rites, which must be completed in a defined formal way. The Sufis interiorize the ritual of Hajj. Making human body and one’s own home analogous to the physical world of Hajj; they interiorize Hajj within the self.
Seeking for Hajj an analogy with death, the Sufis individualize the ritual of Hajj, in contrast to jurists who stress social and communal aspect of Hajj.
Having highlighted the above points in the general Sufi understanding of the Hajj ritual, we must, however, note by way of general conclusion that these points may be taken only as an illustration of Sufi efforts toward understanding rituals. We do not mean to present them as an essential and exhaustive Sufi view of Hajj.
NOTES
Al-Qur’an, Chapter: The Pilgrimage, verse 67-68.
Shah Waliullah, HujatAllah al-Baligha, vol. 1. (Karachi: Karkhana Tijarat-i- Kutub, 1958), p. 156.
Ibid. p. 155.
Annemarie Schimmel, MysticalDimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1975), p.106
Hakim Tirmidhi, Kitab al--Ilajj wa Asraruhu_(Cairo: Matba’a Sa'ada, 1969.
Ibn al-Arabi, Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, Cairo al-Hay 'at al-Misriyya al-Amma l'il Kitab, 1972
Shah Waliullah, Fuyud al-Haramayn.
Shah Waliullah, Hujjat Allah al Baliglrn, op. cit. p.156
Abu'l Nasr al-Sarraj, Kitab al. .ama' (Leiden, 1914), p. 167.
Islamic law requires acquiring necessary provisions for the pilgrimage journey. Hajj is not obligatory on those who cannot afford. See for details M. K. Masud, "The Question of Capacity for Hajj' in Fikr-o- Nazar, September 1975.
Sarraj op cit p.167
Massignon, Recuil des Textes inedits concernant l'histoire de la mystique en pays d'Islam (Paris, 1929), p.11
Sarraj, op. cit. p. 167.
Vide Rashid Ahmad Jallandhari, Ilm Tafsir awr Mufassirin (Lahore: Maktaba Islamiyya, 1971), p.72
Abu Ali Hasan Dahya, Kitab al-Nabras (Baghdad: Matba‘a Ma'arif, 1946), p.125
Kitab al-Nabras,_p. 103.
Massignon, Essai Sur les origines de lexique technique de la mystique musulmane (Paris, 1954), pp .62-63.
Ibid
Abu Ali Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjub (Tehran, 1957), p.424.
Qushayri, Lata'if al-Isharat_ (Cairo, N.d.) p.275
Maybudi, Kashf al-Asrarwa Udda/ al-Abrar (Tehran, 1952), p.537
Ibid p.552
23 Shirazi, ‘Ara'is al-Bayan (Lucknow: Navilkashor, N.d.), p.103.
Kubra, AlTa'wiliil al-Najmiyya vides Isma'il Haqqi Barsawi, Ruh al-Bayan, vol.2 (Istanbul: Matba’a Usmaniyya, 1912) p.69.
Qur’an, 19:99.
Qur’an, 17:1.
Qur’an, 2:196.
Qur’an, 2:196.
Qur’an, 53: 9.
Ibid. p.313.
Vide Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjub, p. 424.
Ibid.
Ibid. p.423.
Vide Lata'if al-Isharat, op cit. p.134.
Ibid.
Ibid. p. 272.
Ibid. p. 273.
Baqli Shirazi, Ara'is al-Bayan, p.40.
Lata'if al Isbarat, p. 136.
Kashf al- Asrar, p.430.